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Major League Baseball umpires have had to correct their original call on nearly 50 per cent of challenges so far this season, the league’s first with expanded instant replay.

According to MLB data through Friday’s games, 291 calls have been challenged, of which 137 have been overturned for a rate of 47 per cent. The umpire’s original call has been confirmed in 25.4 per cent of reviewed plays, while the play has been deemed “inconclusive” in 26.5 per cent of reviews.

How often are umpires wrong? Roughly once every 4 1/2 games, which is slightly more frequent than the league’s own preseason estimate of approximately once every 6 1/2 games. But with only a quarter of the season played, perhaps those numbers will even out.

Not surprisingly, more than 41 per cent of challenged calls have been at first base, with second base being the next most frequent location at 21.6 per cent. Plays at home plate constitute 12.4 per cent of challenges, while boundary calls, such as fair and foul balls, as well as home runs, make up a little more than 10 per cent. The average time of a replay, from challenge to decision, is two minutes.

Blue Jays manager John Gibbons has challenged 14 plays, third-most in the majors. He has successfully overturned five incorrect calls — all in the last two weeks — while seven of his challenges have been deemed inconclusive and the other two have been confirmed.

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Like Gibbons, it seems most managers have made better use of their challenges as the season wore on. Managers successfully overturned just 35 of their first 100 challenges — or about one out of every three. Since then, however, they have improved to better than one out of every two, winning 102 of the next 191.

What Major League Baseball does not have stats on are the number of times a manager stops play without using a challenge — one of the more annoying quirks of the new system. As part of the new system, each team is allowed to have a member of the coaching staff watch the same video feeds as the league and communicate with the dugout via two-way phone whether a play should be challenged or not. A manager can decide after he takes the field whether or not to use a challenge.

Gibbons said he would actually prefer if they eliminated this aspect and changed the system so that a manager has to decide with his naked eye whether a play is worth challenging. “I think that would do wonders, but it’s not my call.”

Jays’ pitcher R.A. Dickey said he could foresee the system changed so that when a manager leaves the dugout after a close play, it’s an automatic challenge.

“I think that may be where it ends up going,” he said. “Look, it’s an organic thing. You’ve got to kind of feel your way through it. You knew there was going to be some growing pains with this system, and all and all I think it’s doing its job. It’s just I wish it wouldn’t interrupt play so much.”

Dickey said he didn’t anticipate so many challenges “on plays that seem so mundane.”

“You have the ability to go out there and really challenge any call on the bases, regardless of how egregious or non-egregious it may be, so why not go do it just in case? That’s the mentality. So managers are finding a way to take advantage of the system in that regard, I think. So you have more replays throughout a game than I’m comfortable with.”

He suggested managers may use their challenges to disrupt the rhythm of an opposing pitcher.

“Hey, if a guy’s going good and there’s a bang-bang play, I’m just going to stop the game anyway, just to try to arrest his momentum. That’s when I think it becomes a hindrance to the game.”

Dickey also wondered if it might be better to have an “unbiased party,” rather than another umpire, making the final call from MLB’s video review headquarters in New York City, suggesting an umpire may be uncomfortable overturning a close call by one of his colleagues.

“That seems logical to me. Because you have this kind of blanket out — it’s got to be conclusive. Who determines what’s conclusive and what’s not? It’s an arbitrary term. What’s conclusive to you might not be conclusive to me. So how do you define that?”

Twice this year the league has admitted its umpires ruled incorrectly, even after a play was reviewed and both Dickey and Gibbons separately mentioned a play on May 9, when Jays’ second baseman Chris Getz was called out on a close play at first, with slo-motion replays suggesting he touched the bag before the first baseman caught the ball.

“It’s not a perfect science, so that frustrates you,” Gibbons said. “But I think for the most part it’s been good.”

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